Vivid Artist Spaces came about after three strangers found each other. Candy Canning, Jane Tharpe and I (Jessica Tookey) all had the vision of creating a space where many artists worked, exhibited and taught together. It wasn't until Jane reached out to the Treasure Valley Artists Alliance that the visions started to become one.

A few board members of TVAA and I sat down with Jane to discuss her idea. Within one week, I saw a post on facebook about Art Project Boise and exciting things that were in the works for them. I hadn't ever met any of the members, but I was curious. I attended the group meeting, and lo and behold, here was another leader (Candy Canning) wanting to do the same thing that Jane and I had just discussed.

I said, "um, I JUST had a meeting about this very same thing, would you be willing to team up with other groups?" Of course Candy was thrilled to team up with other groups, this was something that she had wanted to happen since she got to Boise, but just hadn't found other artists able to do the work to make it happen.

We met a few times in 2016, working on the "boring" side of things (all the paperwork) to make our dreams come true but we didn't have much direction. Now, our sweet friend E (not sure if she wants me to put her name on here) has helped us focus. After less than a year of the original connection, we are a recognized business entity by the state of Idaho and we are finalizing all the paperwork to file for our non-profit status which we hope to do within the next month.

We are so excited for the opportunities that this will bring to artists in our community...and the opportunity for the COMMUNITY to see artists in their "natural habitat." Do sign up for our newsletter so you can stay up to date on all that is happening. Jane is hoping to purchase a building that will house Vivid...and we hope to be in there the Fall of 2017! Don't wait to get involved, we know there will be a waiting list for artists to join us.